Dance of Death: The Drunkards

The drunks are feasting at a brothel while death pours his wine into the open mouth of one of them. Holbein depicts death as particularly jolly, joining in the revelry. But the type of entertainment that Death enjoys is not what the gamblers had in mind.

Dance of Death

The Dance of Death is an important allegory commenting on human mortality and the passing transience of life. It depicts Death as a fairly jovial skeleton armed with a scythe, who invites his victims to a dance which invariably ends in their demise. The point of the allegory is that no one can refuse its invitation to the dance: hgh church officials, kings or paupers, all must dance and eventually die.